RESTON, VA. — The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) announced it will conduct a public comment period from April 1, 2012, through May 16, 2012, on three updated standard guidelines. The updates are for “Standard Guidelines for the Design of Urban Subsurface Drainage,” a companion to the “Standard Guidelines for the Installation of Urban Subsurface Drainage” and “Standard Guidelines for the Operation and Maintenance of Urban Subsurface Drainage.” These standard guidelines were developed by the Urban Drainage Standards Committee, which is responsible to the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The intent of these standard guidelines is to present state-of-the-art design guidance for urban subsurface drainage in a logical order. It updates ASCE/EWRI 12-05 Standard Guidelines for the Design of Urban Subsurface Drainage, ASCE/EWRI 13-05 Standard Guidelines for the Installation of Urban Subsurface Drainage, and ASCE/EWRI 14-05 Standard Guidelines for the Operation and Maintenance of Urban Subsurface Drainage with material developed within the past five years. The collection and conveyance of subsurface drainage waters are within the purview of these standard guidelines for applications such as airports, roads, and other transportation systems, as well as industrial, commercial, residential, and recreational areas. Incidental surface water is considered.

These standard guidelines do not address agricultural drainage, landfills, recharge systems, detention ponds, conventional storm sewer design, or the use of injection systems.

To participate in the public comment period, contact Lee Kusek, ASCE Codes & Standards Administrator at lkusek@asce.org or 703-295-6176. For more information on this standard or ASCE’s standards program, contact Jim Jennings at jjennings@asce.org or 703-295-6406.